


Brighter Than The Sun

by orphan_account



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 20:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20264143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In desperate need of coffee during a late night work session, Seoho finds a coffee stop and a kind barista who he can’t stop coming back to.OrSeoho and Keonhee stay up all night preparing for his university lectures.





	Brighter Than The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn’t supposed to be this long, but I had to push my pro-Keonhee agenda lol

Seoho sat at the back of the lecture hall with a stack of papers and an even larger stack of books he swiped from the library.

When he originally signed up to be a teaching assistant, he thought that he would just grade papers and exams after his own classes, but the professor he worked under had other plans. 

“You can’t teach from behind a wall,” the professor said. “And you can’t learn to teach from watching me do it. That’s what the students do. Can they teach? No. They can learn.”

So there Seoho was, lingering in an empty lecture hall long after hours to build a lesson plan that wouldn’t make him look like a complete moron in front of his professor or the other students. His own shyness and nervousness about public speaking would have to wait until after he tackled his material.

He yawned and cracked his neck that ached from stooping over the coursework for too long. He wondered if the students in the health department would mind giving him a free adjustment in exchange for tutoring. Not that he had the time for either.

“What time is it,” he mumbled, reaching for his phone. Midnight had passed, but he still had too much to do to go home or go to bed.  _ Just a little more _ .

“Coffee,” he said. “I need coffee.”

He shoved his work into his backpack and ran down the auditorium steps out of the classroom towards the campus cafe which, of course, was closed. His heart sank. Instant coffee wouldn’t do. He would have to eat the powder straight out of the pack for any kind of boost. Ten packs at least. He shook his head. Maybe he could get an energy drink from a convenience store.

He walked off of campus in search of the first open store with coffee he could find, and that’s when he saw the cafe across the street — the lights still on but empty.

He hesitated to go in. If they sent him away, he feared he might have a nervous breakdown. If he had a nervous breakdown, he could never get his work done or be seen within a 30 miles radius ever again, but it was his only option.

He opened the door, determined to find something to wake him up. The bell chimed, and he looked around. All the lights were on, but there was no one inside. Even the music was off.

“Hello?” He called out. “Is anyone here?”

A worker came around from the back and greeted him. “Can I help you?”

“Do you have coffee?” What he meant to ask was  _ are you open _ , but his brain and his mouth weren’t on the same page.

The part timer cracked a smile, “Yes, I have coffee. What kind do you like?”

“Black? No, chocolate? No, wait, iced,” Seoho fumbled. 

The worker scratched his chin. “Well, I think I can make something with two of those.”

“Yes,” Seoho blurted out.  _ I’m so tired. _

“Right,” he tilted his head. “Why don’t you have a seat somewhere comfortable, and I’ll bring it to you.”

“I can wait here,” Seoho said, worried if he sat down, he would pass out. “You don’t have to.”

He shook his head and waved a finger. “You cannot.”

He then gestured down towards Seoho’s legs that were shaking so terribly he might have collapsed at any moment. “Oh… I guess I should sit down.”

Seoho sat at a table with an uncomfortable looking hard backed chair to keep himself awake. While his coffee brewed behind the counter, he pulled out his work and spread it across the table refusing to lose sight of why he needed to stay awake in the first place.

“Here you go,” the worker said before sitting across from him. In one hand he had an iced americano and the other he had a mug of something warm with a mountain of whipped cream and cocoa powder on top. 

“Thanks,” Seoho reached out.

“Not so fast,” he pulled the drinks away. “You can only have one.”

_ “What?” _

“One of these is for me,” he said.

“I didn’t buy you a drink,” Seoho mumbled, feeling shy for some reason. 

“You didn’t buy you one either, but here we are.”

Seoho blinked and realized he had forgotten to pay. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Here let me get that.”

He dug through his bag trying to find his wallet for his card or any loose change. He couldn’t believe himself. He searched frantically, but he had left all of his money at home.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Just do something nice for someone tomorrow, and your debt to me will be paid.”

“Do something nice for someone?”

“Yes, I firmly believe that everything nice must be passed to someone else to keep it going. Like this morning a stray cat let me pet it, and I thought ‘hm, I bet someone is going to need something nice today’, and you look like the last chance I’m going to get.”

Seoho nodded but he didn’t understand.

“So, which coffee would you like?” He said, holding them both out.

Seoho tapped his finger on the plastic lid of the iced coffee. “I think this one.”

“Good, I wanted the chocolate,” he said, sliding the americano across the table. Before Seoho could thank him, his mouth was in the whipped cream leaving a cocoa covered patch under his nose.To avoid laughing at someone who had just given him what he needed most, he focused on his own drink. He pinched the straw between his teeth, trying not to look up since he was not sure why the barista was sitting with him. 

The coffee shot through him like a burst of electricity — first with the bitter taste of a milkless, sugarless liquid on his tongue, then the cold of the ice against his teeth, and then the surge of caffeine that activated his heart the way he imagined Frankenstein's monster awakened.

“Ahh,” he said, satisfied. “This is good.”

“Are you sure? I could make you something else,” he said, oblivious to the whipped cream under his nose.

“That’s okay,” Seoho smiled. He squinted at the barista’s name tag. “Thanks for the coffee, Keonhee.”

_ Lee Keonhee.  _

“I’m a Lee too,” he added cheerfully, before feeling embarrassed. “Not that it matters.”

“Ahhhh,” Keonhee said, slapping the table. “No wonder I had a good feeling about you!”

Seoho relaxed and wondered how he should get around to getting back to work. He didn’t want to be rude, but… 

“You have a little something,” he pointed to his own lip, mirroring where Keonhee’s cream mustache was. Keonhee tried to get it with his bottom lip, but he barely came close. 

“Here, let me,” Seoho took a napkin from the table and reached over, swiping the whipped cream off of the other boy’s mouth. Keonhee looked at him in surprise, and Seoho felt his cheeks burn. “Sorry! That was rude! I’m just really tired.”

“It’s fine,” he laughed. “Thank you.”

Seoho immediately went back to his work, too awkward to look at Keonhee who still wouldn’t leave. 

“What are you working on?” Keonhee grabbed the paper and looked over it. As he scanned over the page, he frowned, his brows pinching together until a tiny wrinkle formed between them.

Seoho took the paper back out of his hands and laughed awkwardly. “It’s for my class I’m teaching tomorrow. It probably wouldn’t make sense to you…”

“Then explain it to me,” he said, resting his head on his propped up arm. It felt like a challenge.

Seoho wasn’t sure how he was supposed to explain that he was teaching an advanced university course and that without taking all of the proper prerequisite courses, it would be impossible to understand. Even the brightest of minds had a difficult time processing all of the source material he had to pick through to create this lesson plan. 

Keonhee took the paper back while Seoho thought. He grabbed a highlighter off of the table. “Do you mind?”

“No,” he said, confused. It was just a printout anyways. 

Keonhee looked over the first paragraph and highlighted a section in the middle. “Could you explain what you meant here?”

Seoho took the page back and looked over it. His eyes widened as he realized that the brilliant academic text he had so confidently pieced together was a load of gibberish. 

“It’s not finished,” he said.

“Let’s figure out what it’s supposed to say then.”

They spent the rest of the night going over Seoho’s first lesson. Every time Keonhee asked a question, he realized there was a piece missing from his lecture he never would have thought about before. By the end, his pages were covered in scribbles and notes, and all he had to do was type in his corrections. Three cups of coffee later, he was ready to teach his first class thanks to an especially helpful barista.

The next day Seoho rushed to his first class. By the time he arrived, the students were already in their seats talking amongst themselves, and his professor was seated behind his desk with a legal pad and a fountain pen in front of him.

Seoho stepped behind the podium and attached the microphone to his ear. He plugged in his laptop for the presentation, and he was ready to start. The nerves bubbled up inside him, but he knew he could do this.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” he said, his voice booming through the speakers. 

The students stopped what they were doing and settled into their seats. The one concern he had was the feeling of a hundred eyes staring down at him, but everyone was more focused on their computer screens typing away than they were on him.  _ I’ve got this. _

He began his lecture by inviting the class to ask questions whenever they didn’t understand something (which was ultimately more helpful for him, he had learned the night before).

He flew through the material, and although he may have started out stiff and awkward, by the end he was walking around the room demonstrating and calling on students for discussions. The class was active and engaged, and he was at the center of it all. Maybe this was what he was supposed to do for the rest of his life.

After the classroom cleared out, his professor approached him with his notes.

“You did well,” he said. “A little rocky at first, but I think with a little more practice you could teach all of my classes.”

Seoho laughed nervously. “Thank you.”

“I was impressed to see how well you grasped the material. It was refreshing to see someone who understood the nuances of the course and could bring it to life with new eyes.”

Seoho cheered on the inside. His professor wasn’t known for giving compliments.

“I want you to teach the rest of the classes for the week,” he continued. “I’m curious to see if you can handle four additional lectures with the same amount of quality and passion as this one.”

He swallowed. Wasn’t it too much to ask for a student to prepare that many lessons on such short notice? Didn’t his professor have months to plan his own lessons? Maybe he had set the bar too high for his first time… Maybe it would have been better if he had crashed and burned…

The professor left him his notes along with a list of topics to cover for the week. It was vague and unhelpful, but there was no point in complaining about it. 

He stayed late again, this time more desperate with bloodshot eyes and an ache in his belly from going too long without eating. He checked his phone and realized it was after midnight again, and the campus cafe would be closed. He sighed. He could wait.

But then he remembered the cafe from across the street with the nice barista. They would have food and more coffee, and he could make up for the free coffees he had the night before. He jumped up and rushed out of the room, not sure why he was practically skipping.

The cafe was empty again which didn’t make any sense at all because they had the  _ best  _ coffee and the  _ best  _ customer service in the whole world. He would have to leave an online review when he had free time.

He opened the door to a friendly chime and looked around.

“Hello? Keonhee?”

Moments later Keonhee came around from the back with a bright smile on his face. “How’d your first class go?”

“It went great! I couldn’t have done it without you!”

“Sure you could have,” he said, taking his position behind the counter.

“I have money today,” Seoho said, changing the subject.

“I have coffee,” he said.

Seoho looked around. “Do you have food?”

Keonhee checked the empty glass case where they kept the pastries and frowned. “Let me check in the back.”

Seoho bounced anxiously on his heels as he waited. He didn’t know what he would do if the cafe has completely sold out, but he needed to eat. He guessed he would have to go somewhere else…

Keonhee returned, shaking his head. “We’re out, and I, uh, don’t know how to bake anything.”

Seoho twisted his mouth. “That’s okay.”

“Sorry…” he shifted and looked down at Seoho’s bag. “Are you still working on your stuff for class?”

“Yeah,” he said. “My professor wants me to do all the lessons for the rest of the week.”

“All of them?!”

“Yeah,” he grimaced.

Keonhee came around the counter and pushed him towards a table. “We don’t have any time to waste! Get to work!”

“But I have to ea–,” Seoho protested before Keonhee cut him off.

He waved his hands. “No buts! Just sit!”

Seoho hesitated but felt compelled to sit at the table anyway. He saw Keonhee go into the corner and make a phone call, and he decided that once he hung up, he would apologize and leave to go find a convenience store.

“What are you doing?” Keonhee called out. “Get to work!”

“But I have to–,” he protested. 

“It’s taken care of!”

“How?” He shouted back, his voice echoing inside the cafe.

“In the 24 hours that you’ve known me, have I let you down yet?”

“Well,” he said, thinking. “No, I guess not.”

“Good! Work!”

Keonhee got to work behind the counter. Seoho’s stomach growled, but he guessed he could wait a little longer before sneaking out. He pulled out his computer and his professor’s notes. He supposed he could drink coffee with Keonhee for a few minutes while he tackled the next lesson, and then go find food. That would probably be okay... He was glad that he wasn’t as tired as he was the night before, at least.

He peeked over his laptop screen at Keonhee who was quite busy behind the counter. He had several drinks on the counter of different shapes and sizes, and Seoho wondered what he was up to. Then he set up two cardboard carriers and secured the drinks he had made.

Not long after, the door chimed again.  _ Another customer? _ A helmeted delivery driver came in with plastic bags hooked around his arm. Keonhee waved at him. “Hwanwoong!” 

_ Who’s this?” _

The driver named Hwanwoong set the bags on the counter and checked the drinks. 

“Thanks for trading with us,” Keonhee said.

“It’s no problem,” he said. “My boss loves sweet drinks.”

He took the eight coffee drinks Keonhee had made and left. Keonhee brought the delivered bags to Seoho’s table. “You might want to move your books so the grease doesn’t get on them.”

Seoho could smell what was inside without looking, and he almost drooled all over himself. Chicken. Hot, greasy, crispy chicken. 

“I’m starving,” Keonhee said, placing the containers out where they could both reach the food. “I don’t know about you.”

“Me too! I could eat the table.”

Keonhee bit into a wing and said with a full mouth, “If you eat the table, you have to pay for it.”

Seoho gasped. “Wait! I can’t eat this! I haven’t paid for anything since yesterday!”

Keonhee shrugged. “Well, if you want, I can eat all of this by myself.”

He took his apron off and sat across from him. Seoho looked at the food and licked his lips.

“I really can’t…”

Keonhee wafted the steam towards himself and took a deep breath. “Ahh, you smell that? That’s a late night snack waiting to be eaten. Don’t you just want to  _ try it?” _

Seoho swallowed and shook his head. “You eat, I’m going to work.”

“MMMMM! Have you tried this radish? It’s so crispy and tangy! Wow! Oh look! They gave us a cola! Wow!”

Seoho pouted and hid behind his screen. “That’s so nice…”

“Wahhhh,” Keonhee said, being absolutely annoying. “This sauce is so delicious! It sticks to the roof of your mouth! Wow!”

“Fine!” Seoho cried out. “I want to eat the chicken!”

“I had to make like eight custom drinks for this. If you don’t eat, it will hurt my feelings,” he said plainly without blinking.

Without breaking eye contact, Seoho reached into the container and took out a piece of chicken. He bit into it, and it was like the room stopped spinning. “Oh my god.”

“I know right.”

“This is so good!” He said, drunk on how delicious the food was.

“I have a question,” Keonhee asked between bites. “How is it that you’ve never been to any of the businesses around the school?”

“I usually just eat on campus,” he explained. “I’ve just been staying so late that this is the only place open.”

Keonhee looked away and smiled through gritted teeth. 

“What is it?” 

“We’re not,” he coughed. “Open, I mean.”

Seoho sat down his food. “What do you mean you’re not open?”

“We close at midnight, but sometimes I forget to lock the door when I’m cleaning up.”

Seoho covered his face in horror. “I’m so sorry! Why didn’t you say something!”

“Because I was afraid you were a ghost.”

Seoho blinked.

“You came in with crazy, sunken in eyes muttering about coffee in the middle of the night, but then I realized you were just a grad student and went ‘oh that makes more sense’.”

“I feel terrible… why didn’t you send me away tonight? I’m not nearly as tired!”

“If I sent you off to the chicken place, then what was I supposed to eat?” He said, more interested in the food than sending Seoho anywhere. “Oh look, they gave us extra sauce.”

“I’ll get out of here after we eat then,” Seoho said.

“You have too much work to do to be wandering around at night. Just stay here while I close up.” 

Seoho agreed and decided that if he came back, he would come back during normal business hours and would not stay any longer.

Before he knew it, Seoho was deep in his lesson plan, and the hours had slipped by. Keonhee finished what he needed to do to close the cafe and sat down with him. Between the two of them he was able to knock out two days worth of lessons, and he couldn’t believe how well they worked together. It was mind blowing how well Keonhee followed the material even though he had probably never heard of anything in the books they were picking through. Seoho was thankful towards him and would have to make it up to him next time. 

His second lecture went just as smoothly as the first. The professor’s notes were the same, and he already had the material he needed to finish for the week so he decided that he wouldn’t have to spend the whole afternoon and evening in the library or the classroom.  _ Now, where should I go… _ If his brain wanted to pretend that he didn’t know, his legs took care of the rest.

The coffee shop was packed with customers, and cheerful indie music played from the overhead speakers. It was warm and cozy, and he was ready to get to work. 

Keonhee was at the counter waiting on a customer, and Seoho couldn’t wait to say hi to him. He stood in line and bounced anxiously until it was his turn.

“Hello, can I help y– oh! It’s you!” Keonhee said with a bright smile from ear to ear. “You’re early!”

“I thought I would try coming in when you’re open,” he said. 

“You know it’s no problem,” he said before lowering his voice. “I like it when you come in.”

Seoho’s heart jumped, and he looked around to see if anyone else has heard. If they did, they either didn’t care or had amazing poker faces.

“So, what can I get you?” He asked.

Seoho felt flustered again. “Uh, something iced? No, chocolate.”

“Or black?” He smiled. 

The line was growing behind Seoho so Keonhee punched in the iced americano and a couple of pastries. Seoho paid for his coffee this time and stood over to the side to wait for his order. 

“Seoho?” Keonhee called out once it was ready. It was the first time he had called him by his name, and then he realized that he had never asked for it. 

_ It must have been on my card.  _ He squeezed the paper receipt in his hand that was wrapped around a wad of bills.  _ Wait, I paid with cash. I must have told him when I was so delirious the other night. _

He took his coffee and snacks to a vacant booth, feeling weird to be so far from their table. The table where so much academic brilliance took place was occupied by two couples who couldn’t even properly appreciate it. But they were doing something he couldn’t do. Holding hands. Not that he wanted to hold anyone’s hand. Not even the least bit. He wanted to eat his snacks and drink his coffee and work on his lectures. By himself. At his new fancy booth.

He huffed as he tore one of his pastries in half. It was cheese filled and flakey, and he spilled crumbs everywhere. “Oh no.”

He needed a napkin to clean up his mess, but there weren’t any on the table. He guessed he would have to go up to the counter or ask a nearby customer. He walked towards the counter where Keonhee was busy working and quietly took a few napkins while sneaking a glance at the other boy who was drizzling caramel syrup around the edge of a plastic cup. He then watched him add a drizzle of chocolate syrup. And then the milk at the bottom. And then the caramel and chocolate flavored coffee over the milk. And then the whipped cream. And then another drizzle of caramel and chocolate. He realized he had never watched someone make coffee before. He was so focused on his work the way he was when he helped Seoho with his own. They were two very different things, yet the expression was the same. 

A woman cleared her throat. “Excuse me, I need to get there.”

She pointed to the sugar packets on the counter Seoho was blocking while watching Keonhee make somebody coffee for much longer than was reasonable to watch someone do anything.

He bowed and smiled awkwardly and went back to his seat where he had spilled crumbs that required a napkin to clean up.

After he cleaned up, he realized he needed to throw his napkin away. It wasn’t his fault if the trash can he wanted to use was also near the front counter. He walked over quietly, careful not to draw attention to himself.

“Seoho,” Keonhee said, not looking up from his next order he was preparing. “You have work to do.”

“I didn’t want to make a mess,” he defended himself. 

“You’re procrastinating! Go work!”

“I am not!”

“You watching me is making me nervous,” he said, chasing him off.

Seoho’s cheeks burned. He had been caught.  _ I wasn’t watching you. I was watching you make coffee. It’s totally different!  _ He rushed back to his booth and hid behind his computer. Keonhee was right. He had work to do. But only about that one thing. He was definitely not right about anything else. 

The first hour flew by as he focused on his work, but there was a problem. He needed a refill. He couldn’t be scolded this time since he was making a  _ purchase _ like a valued customer would. He was a paying customer there to buy more coffee. He wasn’t procrastinating  _ or  _ staring.

He stood in front of the register and waited patiently for Keonhee to return. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, finishing up an order.

“Wow, you’re busy,” Seoho said. “Wait, what do you mean ‘what am I doing’, I’m out of coffee.”

“Oh,” he blinked. “Another americano?”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could try that caramel and chocolate thing you made with all of the fancy syrup, if that’s not too difficult.”

He smiled and bounced. “Not at all!”

Seoho paid and then, if his calculations were correct, he only needed to buy ten more coffees to make up for Keonhee’s unnecessary kindness. 

That time he did not watch Keonhee make his coffee. In fact, he stood nonchalantly with his back to the counter and admired the cafe’s interior instead of watching the barista.

“Here you go,” he said behind him.

“Thanks!” He took the drink and slid back to his booth, refusing to take up anymore of his time. When he stabbed his straw through the top of the whipped cream, he realized he had pierced the center of a heart drawn in caramel syrup.

He looked up to see Keonhee peeking out from behind a blackboard menu on the counter. They both ducked behind their hiding places at the same time.  _ I don’t think he saw me. _

The next few hours passed too quickly, and he wasn’t getting anywhere. He was sure that just showing up to the cafe would be enough to get his mind to work, but he was never going to finish at that rate. 

The sun set, and one by one, the customers left leaving him alone. It wasn’t until half of the lights in the cafe went out that he realized he had stayed until closing. He started to pack up his things so he could apologize and leave, but Keonhee dropped into his booth and let out a loud groan. 

“My back is killing me!” He cried out. “I thought that was never going to end!”

“I was just going to head out so you don’t have to stay any longer,” Seoho said. 

“I already finished everything to close. I’m cutting you off for the night, by the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been mainlining caffeine for the last seven hours.”

“Seven?” He checked his phone. It was one in the morning, and he had, once again, stayed too long after hours. “Why didn’t you kick me out!”

“You weren’t bothering anyone,” Keonhee said. “I just swept up around you.”

“I didn’t see you…”

“Who do you think kept bringing you the coffees?”

Seoho looked at the collection of empty cups that had accumulated on the table. He couldn’t remember purchasing more than just the two. “Oh my god, I’m an addict.”

Keonhee snorted. “You were just  _ really  _ focused on your work. How’s that going by the way?”

Seoho put his head in his hands, gripping the hair that slipped through his fingers. He grumbled. “Not great.”

“Let me see,” he said, spinning the laptop around.

“You don’t have to! You’re exhausted!” 

“You’re exhausted,” he said, scanning over the screen. “I am in the best condition of my life. This isn’t bad.”

“You don’t think so?”

“No, we can make a few adjustments, and I think it would be fine. You’re really getting the hang of this.”

“Thanks,” he said, feeling shy again. “It’s really nice of you to keep helping me like this.”

“It’s fun,” Keonhee said. “I’m learning a lot.”

“Really? Like it’s actually a good lesson?”

“Yeah! Have you thought about becoming a professor, yourself?”

“I’d like to, but I’m not sure yet.”

“You seem to be really enjoying yourself.

“Really? I feel like I’m crashing and burning,” Seoho laughed. 

“It’s just because you weren’t given enough time to prepare,” he said, then typing on the laptop. “Which was really mean of the professor by the way.”

“Right! Wait, what are you doing?”

“I’m making some notes,” he explained. “Don’t worry they’re going to show up on the side.”

He turned the computer back around to show that he hadn’t changed the document. 

“Ah! You always find things I hadn’t thought about,” he said, delighted.

“Sometimes it just takes a second pair of eyes, is all.”

They finished fine-tuning the lessons, but it was painfully late. Seoho thought he would pass out at any moment, and Keonhee was also nodding off at the table.

“Can you get home alright?” Seoho asked, worried.

“Yeah, I live nearby,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Upstairs actually.”

“Really?” 

“My parents own this place,” Keonhee yawned. “So don’t worry about the free coffees. I’ll tell them I drank them if they ask.”

“Thank you again…”

“Can  _ you _ get home okay?”

“Yeah! I live nearby too,” Seoho said. “Well, this is it then.”

“Ah, you finished planning all your lectures, didn’t you,” he asked, sounding disappointed.

“I did, thanks to you.”

Seoho stood there for a moment, not ready to leave.

“Listen,” Seoho said. “I was wondering if I could see you again? Not for work? Not at work? You know like outside. Somewhere else.”

“Like a date?” He rubbed his eyes again.

“Maybe,” Seoho said. “Unless that’s weird.”

“I’m not working tomorrow,” he said. “If you want to meet up after class?”

“Great! I’ll stop by here then?”

“Sounds great!”

Seoho practically skipped on the way home, and he practically skipped on his way to school. Time was moving painfully slow for someone who had much better places to be. After he finished his own classes, he practically skipped to his lecture forgetting that he was nervous about speaking in front of such a large group.

He was used to teaching now, and the class was used to him. There was a healthy back and forth between him and the students that felt like an exciting game of ping pong. Even his professor stood up and joined him on the floor, and they discussed the planned topics together. It was the best day of his life, and all he had to do was get to the end of the lecture and sprint to the coffee shop.

As he was about to leave with the torrent of students, his professor stopped him.

“I’m impressed Seoho,” he said. “You’ve really got a natural talent for this profession. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll resume teaching, and you can observe and grade the papers.”

Seoho frowned. He thought he had done well, but he guessed he had a lot to learn.

“Not that you aren’t perfectly capable of taking over,” he chuckled. “But I have a paycheck to earn.”

He smiled at that. He couldn’t believe how well everything was going, and he hadn’t made a single mistake! But he really had to go…

“Thanks again, Professor,” he said.

“Ah, get out of here! It’s late, and I have my own lessons to plan.”

He didn’t have to tell him twice. Seoho spun on his heel and power walked out of the lecture hall towards the cafe off campus. When he arrived, Keonhee was coming down the stairs from the apartment above.

“You made it!” He said.

“My professor wanted to talk to me,” Seoho said. “Sorry if I’m late.”

“No, not at all. I just got back.”

“You were in class too?”

Keonhee snorted. “Yeah.”

“So,” he said fidgeting. “Where do you want to go?”

He thought about it for a while. “I haven’t walked around the river in a while. How does that sound?”

“Good!”

They walked together side by side down a concrete path on the river’s edge. The weather was cooling down as the sun set on an autumn day, but Seoho didn’t mind. It was nice.

They talked about themselves without mentioning coffee or classes like two normal people who met under normal circumstances. Their senses of humor surprisingly went quite well with each other and they both had fits of laughter where they couldn’t breathe. 

Down the path, a crowd had gathered around a busking musician. His hair was dyed a platinum blonde, and he played a classical melody on an acoustic guitar under a street lamp. They stopped to listen for a while, and the music made him sentimental. 

He reached down and wrapped his finger around the other boy’s pinky. Keonhee fidgeted, swinging their hands idly before relaxing. Seoho caught his breath as he recovered from doing something that could have been terribly embarrassing if taken the wrong way. 

When the song ended, the other boy’s hand slid down and tangled his fingers through his. Keonhee pulled him away from the crowd, and they continued on their walk. It was dark out, but the glow from the city was bright enough that the world was a pale blue, and he wasn’t scared at all.

“You did great today,” Keonhee said, breaking a long silence. “You seem to be getting the hang of teaching.”

“Thank you,” Seoho said. He blinked and pulled his hand away, frozen where he stood. “Wait, how do you know?”

Keonhee laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Wahhh, I can’t believe you! I thought you were just pretending to not see me, but did you really not notice I’m taking your class?”

“H–How..”

Keonhee grabbed his hand again. Seoho was too dumbfounded to let go.

“I can’t believe  _ the world’s best and smartest TA  _ didn’t bother to read the class roster,” he sucked his teeth. “How are you supposed to know our names when we ask questions? You really didn’t see me? I was sitting at the front! I asked questions! We debated! Wahhhh…. This is unbelievable.”

Seoho’s eyes widened. “Are you playing a weird joke?”

“No! Oh my god, I’m in your class! Wow, I thought we made a great team, and you didn’t even notice me! Am I only good for free coffee?”

Seoho wanted to hide, but Keonhee pulled him closer, wrapping his arm around his waist as he dragged him down the path. “Do you think you could get in trouble for dating one of your students? Wow, this is exciting! We could get caught! I’ve never snuck around with someone before!”

“I can’t believe this,” Seoho muttered. 

Keonhee leaned in for a kiss, shocking his whole body.

“ _ Too advanced,”  _ Keonhee teased. “Really.”

Seoho grabbed him and pulled him in for a second kiss. He was humiliated, but he had his priorities straight. Keonhee smiled against his mouth.

“I won’t tease you anymore,” he said, playfully.

“Good,” Seoho took his hand again. “I wouldn’t want to have to fail you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoyed it!


End file.
